The Vagina Monologues brings discussion of women's issues to the stage

One in five women is sexually assaulted in college and nearly half (43%) of dating college women report experiencing violent and abusive dating behaviors. This is the world college women face, and this is the world The Vagina Monologues at University of Richmond hope to change.

Heading into its 16^th year, The Vagina Monologues continues to strive to educate and inform the campus community regarding the wide array of experiences women have in their everyday lives. The shows will be held at 9 p.m. Friday Feb. 12 and Saturday Feb. 13.

Amelia Mitrotz, a senior who is a co-director and the president of the UR Vagina Monologues club, auditioned for the performance on a total whim her sophomore year and has never regretted it.

“At this university, I think people are accustomed to pretending that these things aren’t impacting them, or that they don’t matter,” Mitrotz said of violence against women. “Many of us come from places of privilege, but we all have been impacted by this in some way.”Mitrotz believes The Vagina Monologues [TVM] allows Richmond students to connect to a global movement that seeks to end hardship for women everywhere.

“Why wouldn’t we all want to get behind that?” Mitrotz said.

Dean Boehman of Richmond College and founder of the It Ends Now project, agrees with Mitrotz, acknowledging that TVM helps normalize the conversations surrounding sexual violence.

“This shouldn’t be a taboo subject anymore,” Boehman said.

Boehman said because college students typically are not educated enough about sexual violence before they enter college, they are unused to having frank conversations about healthy relationships and sex.

But in his 9 years here, he’s seen a positive change in the campus climate. “We are more open as a culture to have meaningful conversations of sex and gender,” Boehman said.

His It Ends Now Project, initiated in 2011, complements TVM as a movement to take a visible stand against relationship and sexual violence.

Molly Field, the Interim Deputy Title IX Coordinator, added that this is the first year each class has been taught about sexual misconduct. “We’ve finally reached a population where literally our entire student body is educated and has gotten that information at least once,” Field said.

But according to Field, the number of overall reported sexual assaults has risen in comparison to previous years. Both Field and Boehman believe this is a positive thing, in one respect.

“We can help get these people resources and support,” Field said. “It’s a good sign they feel comfortable to come forward.”

Regardless of what name the movement holds, Boehman believes the conversations around sexual assault are imperative to ending it. “This is a topic we need to be hearing about,” Boehman said.

Video courtesy of Tracee Carter. 

Remington Pomaranski, a senior and fellow co-director with Mitrotz, believes TVM is special because it allows the 20 cast members and the larger Richmond community to have this conversation and reflect on specific aspects in women’s lives, covering both the positive and negative ones.

“There are so few platforms in the world today for women to speak of their experiences—and TVM is one,” Pomaranski said.

This will be Pomaranski's fifth show during her four years here. She has been heavily involved since her freshman year, even incorporating TVM into her study abroad program in Copenhagen.

According to a recent study done by Safe Harbor, 20 million American women have been sexually assaulted, and women between the ages of 20 and 24 are most likely to experience forms of domestic violence.

Safe Harbor is a non-profit, community-based organization dedicated to the elimination of domestic and sexual violence.

Each year, all of TVM’s proceeds are sent to Safe Harbor. Last year the performance raised $1,700. Mariah Genis, a senior who is TVM's director of public relations, hopes to reach $2,000 this year.

Genis, Pomaranski and Mitrotz agreed that the most difficult aspect of the club is educating the student body on their mission and everything it encompasses.

Other than sexual violence, Genis hopes others realize everything else the group and performance each year envelops.

“It’s important to recognize that while we do talk about sexual assault, we also talk about positive sexual experiences,” Genis said. “We’re striving to normalize conversations about body image and self esteem, masturbation, consensual sex, moaning, sexual assault and even gender identity.”

Even though these subjects can be hard to bring up in daily conversation, Mitrotz said, “Why should we hide the experiences of women, when instead we could be working as a community to celebrate their beauty, and fight against the ugliness in their lives?”

TVM plans to continue this conversation even past this Valentine’s Day weekend performance. As a yearlong club, they are striving to become more visible on campus.

Last November, they participated in the Body Love Campaign and have a movie night planned this spring.

With ending sexual violence as one of many goals, TVM strives for awareness and clarifying who they are and what they stand for.

“Together we must rise against this injustice. We can only do it together,” Mitrotz said.

Tickets will be on sale for $10 at the door.

Contact reporter Matt McKenna at matt.b.mckenna@richmond.edu.